I'm thinking Handmade.

Wow. It's November. I can't believe it's already November. We are really excited because Steve should be home tomorrow night. He'll have been gone 10 days and it's actually gone by really quickly. He also managed to get an elk on opening morning, and the kids are really excited about that, not that they really understand what it means.

We had a ton of fun last week on a Halloween. Morgan was a witch with a fiber optic skirt that flashed in green when she pushed a little button on her waist, and Payton was a cat. PJ really liked getting to wear some face makeup, but it smeared a little bit when we were driving to our trick-or-treat spot because she decided to take a quick "cat nap" in the car on the way, lol.

We always get together to trick-or-treat with the same group of friends. It's fun to watch our little group of kidlets expand every year. Still all girls, but there's a little boy baking right now, so the group will finally have it's token prince next year. The little Panda Shelby is a little firecracker and it took quite the canoodling to get that girl to stand still long enough for a group shot. We finally got something though.

We went downtown to haunt the shopping district because it's an easy and safe way for the kids to get their buckets filled. Many of the vendors were handing out non-treat related things like plastic bugs and spinning tops, but the kids got lucky and received a couple of treats while we were there, thank goodness.

After that we went to a friend's house to have some dinner and go around the neighborhood. For the first time we couldn't get away with just a house or two and had to go up and down the street, but the kids had a blast so I did too. They missed their dad, but in the end, it was all about the chocolate.

It was fun to watch the sorting later. I can remember the awe of counting and sorting the treats in my own treat bag as a kid, so it has become a fun reward to let the kids have a hold of their buckets and pick through things. Both kids are a big fan of the Pixie Sticks, which they've never tried before. They've been staring so intently at the contents of their buckets that it's going to be extremely difficult for me to pilfer any of their loot, dagnabbit, lol.

Now that Halloween is over and you have your photos waiting and ready, I just wanted to remind you of my Halloween album I posted about here. Maybe it'll give you a couple of ideas for your own....

Since Halloween it's been a quiet weekend, and with the time change, I got to stay in my jammies until 11 but really, it was only 10, so it wasn't ALL morning, lol. We'll see what happens when I try to get the kids in bed by 8 tonight so that I can watch the Amazing Race, lol.


Anyway, November, being the month of family gatherings and Thanksgiving has got me thinking a lot about family and what that means, and celebrating the family as a whole and each member individually. I paper craft all the time, and by that I mean ALL THE TIME, but more often than not only one or two layouts are shown, rarely my cards, and while I do create much of my home decor for the holidays, a lot of it is filed away. I have been trying to create more projects that my family can utilize right at this moment, like this 123 counting book that I made for Payton/Morgan using the new Sweet Cakes line from Pink Paislee.

I saw this banner on 2peas the other day that was a handmade Christmas gift for a little girl's room with her name spelled out. It was a gift to Paige and it totally hit me squarely in the creative center. Morgan's middle name is Paige so it was like this project was made just for her. You can check it out here. I am absolutely going to make one for each of my girls. Right now they have their names on the wall with these foam letters that my mom sent. The sad thing about that is that the letters keep falling down. Right now their names are M rgan and ayton. ::sigh:: So this banner is a must have! lol

Another thing I've been meaning to do is make curtains for the kids' room. Sadly, I posted about this MONTHS ago.... here. May! I've been working on this since May! And the only thing I've done since the fabric arrived is to give it a wash and fold it up. ayiyiyi! Well today, I broke out that fabric, and started my curtains. I have already finished step 1 in the 5 step curtain project in the Bend the Rules sewing book, lol. But it's progress. I am often feeling daunted by my fixer upper home, and it's about time my girls had a finished, girlie room to cozy in at night. It's time to put up those finishing touches. After I am finished with the curtains and the banner, I'm moving on to matching quilts for their beds. But before that, I'm already thinking ahead to Christmas gifts too! I might do the banners and put them in their stockings, but I'm breaking out my Bend the Rules book again and making them the puppet theater, and I'm making the dog a new dog collar, lol. A sewing I will go! As you can tell, I just got really inspired. This book has a lot of really fun and easy sewing projects. I highly recommend it!

Another thing I have been inspired about lately is mini albums. It all started with Ali and her week in the life album project. I didn't do that, but I've been thinking a lot about it. I do think I'm going to do the December Daily album, and am already gathering supplies to get that started before December 1.

I have a very cool project to share with you that goes with my family theme, but this post is getting rather long so I'll share it tomorrow. It's about being inspired by a magazine I bought in 1993 when I was still in high school that has managed to move with me out of the house, through college, in and out a couple of apartments, and in and out a couple of houses.

Before I go I do want to share a layout I made at the last minute for the monthly challenge at Scenic Route. I think I used 5 lines on this one. I decided to have fun with color because of the colors in that darn pinata, lol. It's a little different for me but I still really like it! It's a great way to use up those paper scraps.





Have a great Sunday! Davinie